


came back to life just when I got your call

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Following
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: cottoncandy_bingo, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-17 11:45:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1386448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike and Debra are reunited.</p>
            </blockquote>





	came back to life just when I got your call

**Author's Note:**

> A rewrite of the scene at the end of 2x09 (?) where a death is undone. Not that I am bitter or anything. 
> 
> For the "reunited" square on my Cotton Candy Round 2 card.

When he gets to the nondescript hotel, the same kind of hotel he'd sent hundreds of witnesses to during his time in the Protective Custody Unit, Mike gets a strange sensation in his stomach. A cross between hope and foreboding, it only intensifies as he walks from one room to another and recognises all of the faces there. A combination of the US Marshal Service and his previous unit in the FBI, he knows that these people are the best the two agencies has to offer. He also knows that that combination would only be given to someone who's a very high priority target. 

A very high priority target who wants to see him. 

There's only one name on that particular list and his heart beats a little faster at the thought. 

He's shown into another room and isn't at all surprised to make eye contact with Turner. It's a little over a year since he's seen the older man who looks at him now with a look of barely contained impatience and fury. Turner nods once, then turns his head in the opposite direction at the person standing there. 

Mike only sees her back at first, but it's enough. The hair is longer than he's ever seen it, loose waves cascading down a dark long sleeved shirt. She turns when Turner clears his throat and she looks right at him, her brown eyes suddenly looking suspiciously shiny. 

"Hi, Mike," she says and for all the times he's dreamed of this, longed for it, he doesn't know what to do. 

For a moment, he considers starting in on Turner, asking him what the hell he's thinking authorising this when they've managed to pull it off so well up to now. 

He considers saying much the same thing to her, wondering how she can put herself in such danger when she barely got out alive by the skin of her teeth. 

Then he realises he doesn't want to say anything. 

Because Debra Parker is standing in front of him and he just wants to hold her. 

So without further conscious thought, he crosses the room in a couple of strides, grabs her and pulls her close to him. He feels as well as hears her gasp, feels her arms go around him and her hands make fists in the back of his hoodie. One of his hands splays across her back, feels her taking several shuddering breaths. His other hand cups the back of her head, fingers threading through her hair. She feels as if the last time he held her was only yesterday; even her scent is the same. 

But it wasn't yesterday, he reminds himself. It was over a year ago and everything is different now. 

"Deb, what are you doing here?" he asks, pulling back just enough so that he can see her face. His hands move up and around and down her arms and shoulders and back; he couldn't stop touching her if he was told to and he's relieved to hear the door catch behind him, to know that they're alone. "You shouldn't..."

Debra looks down and nods, makes a sound that's half sniffle and half laugh. "I know, I know... I've been having the same talk with Turner all week." Her hands move in between them, resting on his chest, playing with the material there but she never takes her eyes from his. "But I had to, Mike... I've been looking at the news... I've been hearing about it all and waiting to see what's going to happen, but when I heard about your dad..." A lump rises in his throat as a single tear spills down her cheek. "I couldn't stay hidden anymore... not after that."

He shakes his head, thinks that she's got things entirely backwards. "When we buried him," he tells her, reaching down and taking her hands in his, resting his forehead against hers, "I stood there, watching the coffin be lowered, and the only thing that kept me standing, the only thing that kept me sane, was knowing you were safe. Deb, if something happens to you..."

His voice cracks, he can't help it and she shakes her head, presses her body against his. "I know that," she whispers. "I feel the same way about you."

"The first thing Joe did when he escaped was go after Sarah Fuller," he reminds her. "We were worried enough about you when we thought it was just his followers out there... but now..."

"Mike, I know," she says again. "I'm scared too. But I'll be scared there...I'll be scared anywhere. And I'd rather be scared while I'm trying to help the people I love."

He's about to say something to try to convince her to go back voluntarily, although he's not averse to having Turner kidnap her and force her back into hiding; he thinks the other man would back him up. Then he realises what she's just said. 

"Oh," is all he can think of to say and her cheeks flame a brilliant scarlet. It's not lost on either of them that she'd never once used that word, not when she'd left over a year ago, nor in the two years previous when they'd successfully conducted one of the few stealth relationships in FBI history. 

Her head dropping as she shifts on her feet brings him back to reality and he realises he zoned out for a second there. He can feel her pulling back, both physically and emotionally and he tightens his grip on her, pulls her closer to him. "You don't leave my sight," he orders and for all that she's older, for all she was once his boss, she doesn't seem to have a problem with that. "Ever again," he adds and this time the noise she makes is a cross between laughter and relief. 

"OK," she says, sounding a little breathless and that's when Mike decides he's had enough of talking and kisses her. 

Her hands move through his hair as her body presses against his and even though Mike knows all the reasons this is a bad idea, he doesn't care. 

He's lost enough, these last few days. It's time the universe gave him something back. 


End file.
